Departmental Private Cloud Reference Architecture

Overview: With the addition of systems management such as Microsoft System Center, customers can move beyond virtualization and begin to implement private clouds. A private cloud extends virtualization features designed into Windows Server, enabling standardized design, simple back-up, and self-service deployment of IT services. By removing the need to customize each and every IT service and by enabling line of business or application owners to control when they deploy services, IT organizations can further reduce operational expenses.

This whitepaper defines a best practices reference architecture and detailed implementation guide for building a highly available two node virtualization or private cloud solution ideally suited for mid-sized businesses and branch office deployments.